05.23.13

Summary: The champion of ‘IP’ and licensing (extortion) is not much of a champion after all, based on new reports, not just a lot of old ones

Earlier this week we found this interesting report about the company which extorts Android using patents and tries to block Android imports. The report says “Wired has obtained a copy of a cease and desist letter sent by Google to Microsoft today, demanding Microsoft immediately remove the YouTube app from its Windows Phone Store and disable existing copies on consumers’ devices by May 22.”

And from the letter: “These features directly harm our content creators and clearly violate our Terms of Service. We request that you immediately withdraw this application from the Windows Phone Store and disable existing downloads of the application by Wednesday, May 22, 2013.”

“Don’t let Microsoft use the letter above to chastise Google.”Well done, Microsoft? Champion of copyright? Not so much…

I was never a fan of Google myself (not even in the early days when I was suspicious of Google’s motives and business model), but Google is far less malignant than Microsoft in every single way, including privacy. Moreover, Google has helped promote Free/Open Source software and GNU/Linux, especially in its later years. Google’s recruiters approached me thrice over the years, but I can’t see myself ever working there (the company I work for is dedicated solely to Free/Open Source software). Remember that just because YouTube censors more than it should and spies on all users (more and more over time) is not enough to chastise Google over; in fact, the player itself is growingly liberal, with WebM being used by default in many cases (there is an issue with it still, as will be covered in the next post). Don’t let Microsoft use the letter above to chastise Google. Microsoft is the bad guy here, not Google, although a bit of spinmeistering can help warp the logical conclusion. █

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